(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Ahmed Midaoui, RSF protested the absence of the Saturday 4 March 2000 issue of French daily “Le Figaro” from Morrocan stores. RSF reminded the minister that a similar banning occurred on 15 February of one issue of the French weekly “Jeune Afrique-L’Intelligent”. RSF asked Midaoui […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Ahmed Midaoui, RSF protested the absence of the Saturday 4 March 2000 issue of French daily “Le Figaro” from Morrocan stores. RSF reminded the minister that a similar banning occurred on 15 February of one issue of the French weekly “Jeune Afrique-L’Intelligent”. RSF asked Midaoui to “take all necessary measures to stop the occurance of incidents such as these, which are breaches of Moroccan press freedom.” Since King Mohammed VI has shown his commitment to press freedom, RSF was shocked “that practices such as these are continuing in the kingdom.”
According to information gathered by RSF, the 4 March issue of “Figaro” did not appear in Moroccan stores due to instructions from the minister of the interior. The issue contained an article entitled “The secrets of the king’s friend”, which referred to an article presented a book by King Hassan II’s personal doctor, François Cléret, entitled “The King’s Horse”. The article revealed that, according to the doctor, “[Mehdi Ben Barka’s] body was (â¦) cut into pieces under orders of Hassan II and brought to Morroco in diplomatic suitcases”. On 15 February, an issue of “Jeune Afrique-L’Intelligent” was banned. That issue contained a text by a Morrocan living in Québec, Abdellah Labdaoui, entitled “I want revenge!” in which the author questioned whether the new monarch would be capable of effecting real reform and punishing those who commited human rights abuses during the reign of his father, Hassan II.
